Barclays’ plan to quit Africa isn’t just about the African economic slowdown

Barclays' century-long relationship with Africa is about to end.

Barclays’ business in Africa accounts for 20% of the British bank’s earnings and has actually been growing. So why does it want to sell its 62% stake in South Africa’s ABSA bank and essentially pull out of Africa within the next three years?

The decision has less to do with the economic uncertainty gripping the continent than it does with the British bank’s struggles elsewhere, analysts say.

“The Africa unit is actually generating better returns than the investment bank,” Manzi Rwegasira, head of strategy at Tanzania’s National Microfinance Bank (NMB), told Quartz.

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